Riverdale Drive-In
935 Riverdale Street,
West Springfield,
MA
01089
935 Riverdale Street,
West Springfield,
MA
01089
2 people
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The Riverdale Drive-In opened in May 27, 1950 with Broderick Crawford in “All the King’s Men” & Penny Singleton in “Blondie’s Big Deal”. It was located on Route 5/Riverdale Street. It was part of the E.M. Loew chain. It had a medium size theater marquee sign along Route 5 and a dirt road leading to a small cashier booth. The screen was very long and behind it was the dike that ran beside the Connecticut River.
It operated into the 1970’s and was demolished in 1986 for the building of the Riverdale Plaza Shops. Unlike other drive-ins whose screens were hid from the main road, one could watch the movie from Route 5 which it directly faced.
Contributed by
Edward Shear
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Recent comments (view all 10 comments)
A friend of my Dad’s bought the neon sign from this drive in. Last I heard he lived Mission Hills California. I don’t know if he took the sign out there with him or not.
This was a typical drive in of the period. It included a refreshment stand and a playground. I recall playing in my pajamas at twilight before the cartoon which preceeded the feature started.
Originally farmland. Great irrigation being next to the Connecticut River. Then a small airport followed by the drive-in.
Here is a 1971 aerial photo of the drive-in, courtesy of HistoricAerials.com.
This opened on May 27th, 1950. Ad posted here.
The Riverdale Drive-in closed in the late 1970’s, and by the 1990’s, the space had been redeveloped with various small office and retail buildings. It was located immediately behind the Sack Palace 1-2 and across the street from Showcase Cinemas.
As someone who lived in the area as a youth, E.M. Loew’s Riverdale Drive-In closed in 1967 to make way for E.M Loew’s Palace Theater (see separate entry). All mention of the Riverdale Shop’s etc. are to the North of the E.M. Loews property. Originally the location housed a Topp’s department store. Today there is a Costco and the aforementioned Riverdale Shops.
Opened on 27th May 1950 with “All the king’s men” and “Blondie’s big deal”.
The summary information above is incorrect. True the drive-in did close in 1967, but it was not dormant for 20 years. The Riverdale Shops are to the north of the theatre property in any event.
The drive-in was replaced by E.M. Loew’s Palace, a 1,000 seat single screen, which became the Palace 1 & 2, which became the Palace 1,2,3 & 4 and eventually Showcase Theatres 16,17, 18 and 19 with its big brother across the street being Showcase 1-15 (which started out as Showcase 1 & 2 but that is another story.
In any event, Cinema Treasures lists this theatre as Showcase 16-19.
The drive-in definitely DID NOT close in 1967.I worked there until 1974 and it was still open for a few years after that.